In virtually every society and culture throughout the world, there is a history of the use of beads to form decorative designs for jewelry, artistic creations, and other adornments. Beads have been produced by hand labor and by automated machine, formed of a variety of materials such as glass, plastic, bone, ceramic, shell, coral, wood, and other substances. Beads are provided with varying colors and surface treatments to enable artists to assemble designs of infinite variety and unique creativity. The beads are generally provided with a hole therethrough, assembled (strung) on string, wire, cord, or the like, and the strings are then joined into a coherent design. Stringing is accomplished by inserting the free end of a wire or needle through the hole in each bead, a manual process that is painstaking.
The stringing process is the most arduous and the least creative step in creating a bead design. Moreover, it is generally believed that smaller beads are more desirable to create more complete and intricate artistic works. However, smaller beads are more difficult to string, and the more beads that are used, the more time must be spent carrying out the stringing process. These factors run counter to the artist drive for greater intricacy and larger creations using more beads.